The Yankees have invested nearly a quarter of a billion dollars so far this offseason, the most expensive squeeze play in major league history.

The squeeze is supposed to be on Robinson Cano. The Yankees plan here — beyond the obvious, to get better — is to signal to Cano with their finalized signing of Brian McCann for $85 million and their agreement pending a physical with Jacoby Ellsbury for nearly double that ($152 million; $169 million if his eighth-year option vests) that they are spending big this offseason. With or without him.

They want to include Cano. But they are more fervid than a Black Friday consumer and are going to keep buying, even if it means spending money earmarked for Cano and, thus, squeezing him out.

Will the Cano/Jay Z/Brodie Van Wagnenen faction blink? It is one of the big mysteries and storylines of this offseason.

The way the Yankees want this to play out is for Cano to understand they are not going beyond a $189 million payroll for next season. By their calculations, they can fit McCann, Ellsbury, Cano and Hiroki Kuroda into that budget. But they have offers for more than that group out there. So, for example, if they could get Shin-Soo Choo to agree in the near future, they would play Brett Gardner in left, Ellsbury in center, Choo in right, make Alfonso Soriano the DH and get out on Cano.

Just an aside for the conspiratorial among you: Scott Boras represents both Ellsbury and Choo. He tends to wait until later in the winter to sign his best clients, at least until the Winter Meetings. But Ellsbury is all but a Yankee a week before the meetings, and Choo is in play. And, oh yeah, Cano left Boras for Jay Z, who filleted Boras in a rap song.

So if Boras could help himself and his client while potentially evaporating the market for Cano/Jay Z, well … and, by the way, with Ellsbury in, the Yankees are now out on Carlos Beltran, who left Boras for Dan Lozano, another agent who will not be getting a Christmas card from Boras.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program in which the Yankees are hoping to exert pressure on Cano to act swiftly and at their price, which they are willing to take to the seven-year, $170 million range. For this to work, the Yankees need for a market at a higher price not to have formed for Cano and/or for Cano to be too antsy to wait for one to possibly form.

It is a game of chicken, and we are still waiting for the final cluck.

However, you do have to wonder if the Yankees have moved too boldly here, that they have been overpowered by their never-rebuild, win-at-all cost DNA. They didn’t make the playoffs in 2008 and reacted by spending more than $400 million on Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, who helped win a championship the following year, but became problematic long-term.

They missed the playoffs for just the second time in two decades last season and now they have a bad-body catcher — albeit one whose power will play great in Yankee Stadium. And then there is Ellsbury, who the Yankees for a long time felt they had an inexpensive facsimile of with Gardner. Now both are in the same outfield, and as we saw last year with Gardner/Ichiro, the speed does not compensate for the lost power.

Ellsbury hit 32 homers in 2011, but has 33 in his other six seasons combined. Maybe like another Scott Boras-repped Red Sox lefty-hitting center field import, Johnny Damon, his power will grow in the Stadium. But the Yankees paid $52 million for Damon or $101 million less than Ellsbury.

His $21.86 million annual average would be the third highest ever for an outfielder (behind Josh Hamilton and Manny Ramirez) for a player who either is injury prone or been involved in a couple of freak mishaps, is either a big-time defender or not (depending on whom you ask). He is a speed player already beyond his 30th birthday, and you wonder if he or, say, Cano will age worse as we ebb toward 2020 — the year, not hindsight.

Positively, Ellsbury not only is a high-percentage base stealer, but a fearless one who already has proven himself in the Northeast baseball crucible. He was a key performer in the Red Sox’s last two titles.

But he has had one elite season — ONE — or at least five fewer than Cano. Maybe the Yankees can have both — Ellsbury getting on base for Cano to knock in. But if the squeeze-play zeal to land Ellsbury costs Cano, then the Yanks just might end up regretting the strategy.

What's Your Take?

Sherman says Cano was elite in 5 of his seasons huh ? He has only hit over 30HRs once ( 33 HRs wow ) and knocked in 100 RBIs three times .

Wow when I think of the Yankee great hitters of the past Cano's best seasons are not even in the "ballpark" with them . I don't quite get the Cano man/love - man/hate relationship between certain writers and fans with Cano .

As a long time R Sox fan Cano was never in the ( Oh no ,look who's up? ) category getting up to the plate against us that many other Yanks hitters have been .

Maybe that rare bad hitting team of the Yanks last year made Cano seem better than he was ? Or by not hustling half the time maybe Cano has fans and writers thinking , "Well he must be good if doesn't even have to try hard for us". LOL

BTW I really hate losing Ellsbury to you guys , if he stays healthy you have the best base thief in the MLB hands down , an excellent fielder ( arm is not great ) and a guy that has come through in clutch situations more than his BA shows . - Maybe in 6 years he slows down but even if so , you'll still get 5 yrs of him hustling in the field and at bat .

Maybe Pierzynski will thow him out 90% of the time for us ! - yeah,maybe NOT .

Mariners are out of this--no way Cano takes his talent to a team that isn't going to win with or without him. And that ballpark will suck the counting stats out of the bats of even the best power hitters. And he'll be a continent away from his family. It really comes down to whether the Nats, Rangers and Tigers join the bidding. But it is highly doubtful that any of those teams will substantially beat an offer of 175-180 million from the Yanks. So it really comes down to whether he wants to say goodbye to the pinstripes and the biggest brand in baseball just to make a few more million dollars. I'm betting that he won't.

Since no team can win the World Series every season, the never rebuild, win at all cost mentality, may mean that the Yankees are willing to accept certain years out of playoff contention to win the championship in other, fatter years. This means a cycle of huge spending at specific moments, and lying fallow at others. In this mode, the farm system becomes less important to Yankee overall success than it would be to other teams lacking the Yankees' financial resources. So, we may never again see an aberration like the core four all coming up through the system simultaneously. That may have been a fluke never to be repeated. Huge money deals to FAs every three years or so may be the conscious Yankee pattern going forward from now on.

I think we need to see how this all plays out. I don't think this is the last deal that the Yankees will make. Gardner can be traded. He has some value as he can be an effective leadoff batter. This is not the team that is going into Spring training so I'd be inclined to wait until after the meetings and maybe even into January.

Well, I'd take two seasons of no playoffs and all that money to fire Damon Oppenheimer and Mark Newman and get some guys who know how to build a minor league system that produced homegrown talent. Remember, we won nothing until Stick Michael, during George's suspension, rebuilt a system that then produced Bernie Williams and the Core 4, plus gave us Cano and (say what you want, he helped us win a title) Melky Cabrera. That's how you win.

We just overpaid for Ellsbury in a big way. That's a ridiculous contract for a fragile player. I agree with not caving on Cano's demands for a 9 year deal, and I say if he can't live with seven at 180, say goodbye. Then build your system, get pitching and take your lumps for a couple of years while you put together the next run.

Sox fan here: you will like Jacoby. All around, exciting player with no weaknesses in his game. Great post-season guy who feels no pressure on the biggest stage. Won't cause any chemistry friction (though he's a bit bland). His injuries were weird and not necessarily a sign of his being injury prone. Having said all of that, I don't think you'll find a single Sox fan who is upset about this. Sox would never have offered a deal like this, and I'm glad they didn't. The Yanks will spend their $ on someone great, I'm kind of glad it was for a 30+ year old speed guy to a 7 year deal.

Joel, "backfire" ? You're assuming the Yanks are still in play for Cano. It's possible from their discussions the Yanks believe they aren't getting Cano (at least not at their price) and they moved aggressively to the next-best player. Perhaps they're thinking that now getting Cano, at their price, will be a huge wind-fall. Not sure that even Crashman is stupid enough to lay out $153M in the hope that it leverages spending another $170M. As Larry Bird said, "at some point this is real money !". :)

Go ahead Robbie, Jay Z is trying to establish himself as a farce in athlete representation. And he could cost you $$ and a good team, better hop on the Yankees bus to spring training in Tampa, or its off to Arizona with the Mariners, the team where players fade into obscurity. Should have stuck with Boras look what he got Ellsbury. Yanks are building a team now without you in mind, so take the deal or buy some stock in umbrellas, you'll need them in Seattle....and watch your friend Jay-Z wash his hands of you. If you hustled down the line, Yanks might have given you an extra 5M. Your loss not us fans

If the stories are true that Seattle, and Seattle only, in the mix for Cano, then this is a good gamble for the Yankees. As everyone knows on here, I've said repeatedly, the Yankees must sign Cano, a future HOF. But if they can't, better he goes to baseballs version of Siberia, where Cano will only accumulate HOF stats, but will be relegated to obscurity. And what does that say for JZ?? His first big deal and he can't secure a contract with the Yankees for Cano. Aside for Pettitte (Andy was not about money, it was because he wanted to go home) this will be the first Yankee of this stature, someone who wants to remain a Yankee and who is home grown, to leave the Yankees. This can only happen because Cano's reps couldn't seal the deal.

As far as Ellsbury, the comparison needs to be made between him and Granderson. It boils down to the alarming number of times the Grandy Man K's and his declining BA. Besides, the Yankees are in need of a leader off hitter, and they went out and got one. Ellsbury's injuries are a factor, but these were mostly due to his lack of concern from bodily harm trying to make that play. He must play smarter and cannot continue to crash into walls or go full out at the risk of injuries. I'll finish with this......I'm not seeing Ellsbury and Gardner in same OF.

Funny, when Ellsbury was with the Red Sox, he was praised as one of the best outfielders in the game "he makes things happen"; but now that he signed with the Yankees, the reaction is "Oh, he really isn't that good" or "He's not as good as Crawford"- for real? -does anybody expect Ellsbury to gain 40 pounds and stop stealing bases?

Well the other way this could backfire is it places a floor on the Robbie contract - I think even the Yankees believe that Cano is worth more than Ellsbury especially if they both age poorly - I mean the the $24m per year offer for Robbie is too close to the $21 per for Ellsbury given the consistency and power numbers Cano put up. And it's not that Cano is too low it's that Ellsbury is too injury prone and too high especially in years. So where do the Yankees go with Robbie? Relative to Ellsbury the only way is up in years or dollars per and they shouldn't go further - so I think they are done or they get another Tex/A-Rod contract to live down.

Now you try your hand here......and nothing's changed, you do not impress anyone with your drivel. And what the he!! is NY Dodgers?? You must sit alone readin your sht, and only you find the humor. That's like laughing at yourself.......so now I'm laughing at you with you. hahahaha.

As a Sox fan I concur with your description of Ellsbury. Great catch, but not worth that kind of money. I believe in a poll taken on ESPN only less than 3% thought the Red Sox should have matched the offer. Ellsbury would be a better signing if he were the missing piece of the puzzle, but he's not even close. The Yankees are extremely iffy in their starting rotation and their bullpen. They're old as dirt on the left side of the infield and the right isn't much better. Their brand new catcher projects to be a DH by the forth year of his contract. Defense? The outfield is solid but the infield could be a nightmare especially if the Yanks loose Cano. The Yankees seem to be playing a game of chicken with the guy they need the most. We've seen how much loyalty and legacy means with the Ellsbury's signing. Do you really think Cano is any different?

@Tommy Ridner Sox fan here, no one that I know of or heard on "sports talk Radio" here in Boston feel that Ellsbury "isn't that good"...we basically paid him 22 million from 2007-2013 in his prime years and he helped Sox win 2 championships. A bargain. Now he's getting basically that in each year of his new contract. Sox will not spend like they used to for players over 30 years old to long term deals. They got what they wanted out of Ellsbury, he was a good player, dynamic, but injured a lot and doesn't hit for power. As Sox fans, we appreciate what he did, but we're content with spending $$ on short term contracts and building our farm system up

@Eric Matterson I think the novice agent known as JAY Z may have VASTLY overestimated his clients market....the 300 million number that was floated earlier NO DOUBT scared off some teams that may have been interested.......

..Cano is a very very good player, but is not a GENERATIONAL player like Trout,Griffey, etc.........

@Yankees Pride @John Valleau true point about Jeter......but in pro sports time.....that was like a GAZILLION yrs ago......and about 99% of these long term(7+ yrs)type deals since then look PRETTY BAD as early as the first or second yr....

@sucker@Mike B My first thought was to totally agree with you until I thought that DOUG FISTER was just traded for less talent than Gardner........all it takes is ONE OWNER/GM to VASTLY overrate a given players talents........that being said, in normal baseball yrs you are NOT GETTING a decent pitcher for Gardner........but so far this hot stove season has been ANYTHING BUT NORMAL